Home improvement or home renovation is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home.

Types of home improvement

While it most often refers to building projects that alter the structure of an existing home, home renovation can include improvements to lawns and gardens and outbuildings like gazebos and garages.

Home improvement projects generally have one or more of the following goals:

Beautification and added features

• Wallpapering and painting walls or installing wood paneling.
• Adding new flooring such as carpets, tiling, linoleum, wood flooring, or solid hardwood flooring.
• Upgrading cabinets, fixtures, and sinks in the kitchen and bathroom.
• Replacing siding and windows
• Improving the backyard with sliding doors, wooden patio decks, patio gardens, Jacuzzis, swimming pools, and fencing.

Comfort

• Upgrading heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC)
• Increasing the capacity of plumbing and electrical systems.
• Waterproofing basements.
• Soundproofing rooms, especially bedrooms and baths.

Maintenance and Repair

Maintenance projects can include:

• Roof tear-off and replacement.
• Concrete and masonry repairs to the foundation and chimney.
• Repairing plumbing and electrical systems.

Additional Space

Additional living space may be added by:

• Turning marginal areas into livable spaces such as turning basements into recrooms, home theaters, or home offices -- or attics into spare bedrooms.
• Extending one's house with rooms added to the side of one's home or, sometimes, extra levels to the original roof.

Saving Energy

Homeowners may reduce utility costs with:

• Energy-efficient insulation, windows, and lighting.
• Renewable energy with biomass pellet stoves, wood-burning stoves, solar panels, wind turbines, Programmable thermostats, and geothermal exchange heat pumps (see autonomous building)

Safety and Preparedness

Emergency preparedness safety measures such as:

• Home fire and burglar alarm systems.
• Fire sprinkler systems to protect homes from fires
• Security doors, windows, and shutters.
• Storm cellars as protection from tornadoes and hurricanes.
• Bomb shelters especially during the 1950s as protection from nuclear war.
• Backup generators for providing power during power outages

Professional Versus Do-it-Yourself

There are three main approaches to managing a home improvement project: hiring a general contractor, directly hiring specialized contractors, or doing the work oneself.

A general contractor oversees a home improvement project that involves multiple trades. A general contractor acts as project manager, providing access to the site, removing debris, coordinating work schedules, and performing some aspects of the work.

Sometimes homeowners bypass the general contractor, and hire tradesmen themselves, including plumbers, electricians and roofers.

Another strategy is to "do it yourself" (DIY). Several major American retailers, such as Home Depot and Lowes, specialize in selling materials and tools for DIY home improvement. These stores host classes and carry numerous books to teach customers how to do the work themselves. DIY websites also provide information.

Home Improvement Industry

Home or residential renovation is a $300 billion industry in the United States, and a $48 billion industry in Canada.The average cost per project is $3,000 in the United States and $11,000-15,000 in Canada.

There are several types of companies that contribute to the booming renovation industry. Supply businesses such as Home Depot, Lowes, Home Hardware and Rona Lansing provide all the materials and tools necessary to facilitate home renovations. Many online companies and home improvement websites offer tips, guidelines and trends to give homeowners ideas for design and décor.

Associations

Playing a critical role are the professional associations created to represent the architects, architectural technologists, interior designers and skilled trades that provide specialized services to homeowners. These associations provide credibility, trade guidelines and useful information to help homeowners learn more about the trades they are about to hire.

Associations include:

• Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario
• The American Institute of Architects

Renovation Contractors

Perhaps the most important or visible professionals in the renovation industry are renovation contractors or skilled trades. These are the builders that have specialized credentials, licensing and experience to perform renovation services in specific municipalities. While there is a fairly large ‘grey market’ of unlicensed companies, there are those that have membership in a reputable association or are accredited by a professional organization.

Home Improvement on Television

Home improvement was launched on television in 1979 with the premiere of This Old House starring Bob Vila on PBS.

The sitcom Home Improvement used the home improvement theme for comedic purposes.

American cable channel HGTV features many do-it-yourself shows, as does sister channel DIY Network and the competing Discovery Home.

Kitchen cabinets are the built-in furniture installed in many kitchens for storage of food, cooking equipment, and often silverware and dishes for table service. Appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and ovens are often integrated into kitchen cabinetry.

History

As commonly used today, the term kitchen cabinet denotes a built-in installation in which a single counter covers multiple cabinets and neither wall nor floor is generally accessible behind or under the cabinet. Kitchen cabinets per se were invented in the early 20th century. An early precursor was the Hoosier cabinet, a single piece of furniture incorporating storage and work surfaces.

• Pre-WW-I cabinet design. Typical kitchens before World War I used freestanding work tables and a pantry for dry storage. Cupboards were sometimes used in kitchens, though in larger houses dishes were more typically stored in the dining room or butler's pantry. Perishable foods such as milk, meat, and vegetables were purchased daily.

• Post-WW-I industrial era. Increasing interest in household efficiency pioneered by Lillian Moller Gilbreth led to more systematic kitchen design in the 1920s, typically including built-in cabinets surfaced with linoleum or stainless steel. Improved materials and tools also made the industrial production of cabinets possible.

• Post-WW-II cabinet design. In the U.S., countertops of high-pressure laminates such as Formica became popular. Laminates led to the adoption of a seamless flush-surface kitchen look that is almost universal today, though laminates themselves are often replaced today by synthetic solid surface materials or (in more expensive installations) natural stone. In Europe, built-in cabinets had also been pioneered in the 1920s. With improved materials, the frameless cabinet style, appealing for its architectural minimalism reminiscent of Bauhaus design, emerged in European kitchen design, and elements have now been widely adopted worldwide.

• Post-modern cabinet design trends. Other elements of kitchen design affect the choice of cabinetry as follows. In post-modern kitchens, hardwood floors are increasingly installed, earth tones are in greater use for painted surfaces, and wallpaper is less favored. Further trends include the introduction of more expensive options in kitchens, a larger number of ovens, the use of thicker solid countertops (2-3 inches), the use of higher base cabinets, the introduction of "quartz" countertops and countertops with honed rather than glossy finishes, higher countertop appliances, pervasive use of undercounter lighting, and the use of higher 9-foot ceilings rather than more traditional 8-foot ceilings formerly used in postwar construction. While not all are kitchen cabinet trends per se, they all affect the choice and design of cabinetry.

• Kitchens today. Modern kitchen design has improved partly as a result of ergonomic research by pioneers such as Lillian Moller Gilbreth. Kitchens are larger and have more cabinets; some kitchens may have as many as fifty drawers and cabinet doors. New features today include deep drawers for cookware, pull-out shelves to avoid excess bending, sponge trays on the front of sink cabinets, pullout hideaway garbage/recycling containers, pull-out spice cabinets, lazy susans in corner cabinets, vertical storage for cookie sheets, full-extension drawer slides, and drawers and doors with so-called soft-close/positive-close mechanisms enabling drawers to shut quietly, or which shut fully after being pushed only partially.

Cabinet Wood Choices

Cabinets consist of six-sided wooden boxes or "carcases" closed on five sides with a door on the sixth.

• Cabinet faces. Solid wood is an effective choice for cabinet parts seen by people such as face frames, doors, drawer fronts, and so forth. Among solid wood choices used for cabinet doors, cherry is more expensive than maple or oak in most cases. Solid wood is more expensive than plywood which, in turn, is more expensive than particle board or similar sheet goods. Some products need special protection from moisture.

• Cabinet body. The cabinet carcase is usually made from plywood or high-quality particle board, particularly for those flat sections which don't need to be shaped, such as shelves, cabinet sides, or drawer bottoms. Typical plywood thickness in these applications varies from ?- to ¾-inch (with ¼-inch used often for drawer bottoms). Stiffness and strength are important factors since cabinets are expected not to bend or sag and be able to support a heavy load. The best choices for strength are plywood and higher-quality particle board. Stiffness increases rapidly with shelf thickness; regardless of material choice, a ¾" shelf is 73% stiffer than a ?" shelf though only 20% thicker. What helps keep particle board strong is the choice of resin used in manufacture which binds together its wood particles. Plywood carcases are usually assembled with screws and nails while particle board carcases use glue or mechanical fasteners such as confirmat-cam assemblies. Generally, plywood-carcase cabinets are more expensive than particle-board-carcase cabinets.

• Cabinet frames and doors may be made of solid wood, medium density fiberboard (MDF), particle board, plywood, or a combination of these. For example, a floating panel in a door could be veneered plywood contained within a solid wood or medium density fiberboard frame. Medium density fiberboard can be shaped and coated with flexible veneers such as thermofoil, or it can be painted. The only way to get a look showing the grain of the wood is, of course, by using solid wood. There are a variety of choices of transparent grain-showing finishes; they're made of lacquer, varnish, or polyurethane, and may contain pigments, dyes, glazes, or fillers. Finishes can be applied using a brush or by spraying.

• Trade-offs: solid wood versus particle board Solid wood and plywood lasts longer, are stronger, but cost more. Solid wood is durable; many centuries-old solid wood antiques remain in daily use today. Since cabinets can break, strength and durability should be weighed against cost factors. Solid wood parts can be repaired by furniture refinishers to match exactly the existing wood finish. Particle board cabinets are good choices when the service life of the cabinet is expected to be intermediate.

Cabinet Construction

Cabinet Carcase

Cabinets may be either face-frame or frameless in construction. Each option provides features and drawbacks.

• Face-frame cabinets. Traditional cabinets are constructed using face frames which typically may consist of narrow strips of hardwood framing the cabinet box opening. Cabinet carcases were traditionally constructed with a separate face frame until the introduction of modern engineered wood such as particle board and medium-density fiberboard along with glues, hinges and fasteners required to join them. A face frame ensures squareness of the cabinet front. It also increases rigidity and provides a mounting point for hinges. Face-frames confer an appearance of strength and durability, and face-frame cabinets retain popularity in the U.S. An important distinction to be made between modern (manufactured) and traditional custom-built face-frame cabinets relates to the catalog-selection of cabinet components entailed by mass-production. Original custom face-frame cabinets accommodated multiple sections (cavities) in a single carcase. But stock (or semi-custom) face-frame cabinets are constructed individually and joined during installation. As a result, modern face-frame cabinets differ in having significantly wider (double-width) stile materials overall after installation. Two 1½" stiles joined as adjacent cabinets result in, effectively, a 3" stile. Wide stiles can interfere with access to the cabinet interior. When base cabinets were typically shelved, this was not much of a drawback. But with base cabinets increasingly being fitted with trays and drawers (using modern hardware), the extra stile width results in significantly less access to the cabinet cavity space. This drawback does not pertain to custom face-frame cabinets.

• Door Mounting. For both face-frame and frameless kitchen cabinets, it is conventional for cabinet doors to overlay the cabinet carcase. Face-frame cabinets allow for various door mounting options. Traditional overlay doors do not abut, allowing a view of the face frame when the doors are closed. Full overlay cabinet doors fit closely so that they obscure the face frame when closed. A third less-conventional option for face-frame cabinets is to inset doors into, and flush with, the face frame (see below). Since frameless (see below) cabinet doors also fully overlay their carcases, the two types (frameless and full-overlay face-frame cabinets) have a similar installed appearance (when doors are closed), both may use European cup hinges, and both require decorative door and drawer pulls (since there is no room for fingers at the door or drawer edge when installed).

• Custom. Custom face-frame cabinets offer more efficient use of space because double width stiles (see above) can be avoided.

• Frameless (full-access) cabinets. Frameless (a.k.a. "full-access") cabinets utilize the carcase side, top, and bottom panels to serve same functions as do face-frames in traditional cabinets. In general, frameless cabinets provide significantly better utilization of space than do face-frame cabinets. A preference for frameless cabinet design developed in 1950s and 1960s Europe following the devastation of World War II. A burgeoning market for reconstructed housing in Central Europe provided a fertile environment for introducing improved hinge and cabinet designs. Frameless cabinets rely on updated manufacturing methods that permit the production of modern cabinet hardware (hinges and slides) and engineered wood products (for strength, dimensional tolerance, and stability). The intent of the frameless design is to achieve a more streamlined appearance but also a more efficient use of space, a proliferation of well-designed moving components such as drawers, trays, and pull-out cabinets providing better access to interior components. Many benefits coming out of frameless cabinets have been applied to face-frame cabinets such as the proliferation of multiple drawers in base cabinets, the use of full-overlay doors, and the use of cup hinges. Accordingly much of the hardware used by U.S. cabinet manufacturers is imported from Europe.

• Space-utilization. Since typical face-frames are 1½" wide and frameless side panels ¾", access to the cabinet interior is 1½" wider for a typical frameless cabinet as compared to a face-frame cabinet. A 12"-wide cabinet accommodates a 10"-wide drawer in frameless construction or a 8½"-wide drawer in framed construction. The 1½" difference is most significant for narrower face-frame cabinets. Hence, the nomenclature "full-access." Custom (higher-cost) face-frame cabinets, which use one 1½" stile to frame two cabinet openings, can also accommodate wider drawers comparable to frameless cabinets. Frameless wall-oven cabinetry further saves 3" of wall space as compared to the same wall-oven installed in a face-frame cabinet: Many, if not most, contemporary ovens (and other cabinet-front-mounted major appliances) have been designed with the space-utilization advantage of frameless cabinets installation in mind. The oven is dimensioned, and thermally insulated, to fit within an industry-standard external width (e.g., 27 or 30 inches) cabinet cavity, less two standard ¾-inch cabinet side-wall thicknesses while providing for a small space between the oven box and the internal cabinet wall. In ovens, the bezel is sized to fit the full external cavity width and overlay the cabinet side wall. Such an installation avoids any unused lateral space around the oven. (While, hypothetically, ovens can be installed similarly in face-frame cabinets, such an installation may requires cutting away all but ¾" of each 1½" face-frame - specifically not recommended by vendors as it may weaken the joint between side-wall and face-frame - and buttressing face-frame cabinet side walls accordingly.)

• Wood options. Frameless cabinets, which exhibit a modern appearance in keeping with the design movement of "minimalism," are typically constructed of particle board, which features a high degree of dimensional stability, adherence to dimensional standards, absence of warping (as supplied), and uniformity. Accordingly, the so-called European hinge includes a 35-mm-diameter cup press-fit to a bored recess particularly well-suited to particle board construction. By virtue of the 35-mm "European" cup design, European hinges avoid reliance on screws as a primary mechanism holding door to hinge. Plywood and/or solid wood can also be used in frameless cabinet construction, generally at higher cost.

• Hinge design features. Those European hinges intended for use with frameless cabinets afford a quick-release mechanism enabling a door to be removed and replaced without the use of tools. Such hinges typically afford six-way (three-axis) positional adjustment by screwdriver for door alignment. Some accommodate complex motions, e.g., to avoid interfering with interior cabinet components while fully overlaying the carcases (e.g., permitting the full-interior-cabinet-width dimensions for pull-out trays). Scissors-type articulating hinges support wide-angle non-interfering adjacent doors.

• Inset door face-frame cabinetry. A special, and unconventional, category of framed cabinets is represented by those with inset doors. An inset-mounted cabinet door is fitted to the frame just as would be an ordinary full-sized room door; such doors fit into a frame when closed. (Full-size doors do not simply cover the opening between rooms or at an entrance to a building.) Inset doors require more precise alignment of the doors to the frames. Further, this alignment must be maintained with use. Upon opening or closing, inset doors are gently braked by the air cushion trapped between the door and frame. This desirable feature is one hallmark of high-quality inset door construction. Frameless or full-overlay face-frame construction can superficially resemble inset construction when doors are designed to fit closely within a cavity formed by surrounding doors, drawers, and/or an adjacent countertop.

Cabinet Doors

Cabinet doors may feature a variety of materials such as wood, metal, or glass. Wood may be solid wood ("breadboard" construction) or engineered wood, or may be mixed (e.g., engineered wood panel in a solid wood frame)

• Frames. In the U.S. solid wood frame and panel construction, using either mortise and tenon or cope and stick jointed frames, is traditional, with maple, cherry, oak, birch, and hickory among the most commonly used species. Mortise-and-tenon frames, with their greater strength and permanence, are more costly to produce and less commonly used as compared to cope-and-stick frames. As an alternative, miter joint frames, which may be identifiable by face-surface relief that follows continuously around the frame, have become popular. Miter-jointed frames typically employ embedded metal fasteners to secure frames elements (stiles and rails) cut at a 45° angle. Captured within frames, panels may be either solid or veneered engineered wood (either particle board or medium density fiberboard). Laminates, including those designed to resemble hardwood, can typically be identified by a more rounded appearance associated with the minimum bending radii necessarily entailed by the manufacturing process of applying laminate to an underlying substrate. By comparison solid surfaces, in particular solid hardwood, can be milled with more sharply defined corners, edges, or grooves on either a panel or frame.

• Panels. Panels used in frame-and-panel kitchen cabinet doors may be fashioned either of solid wood or covered by paint, veneer, or laminate in which case they are fashioned of engineered wood. The panels are typically not fastened with glue or nails but rather "float" within the frame to accommodate seasonal expansion or contraction of the wood frame.

• Solid-door construction. Doors may be fabricated of solid material, either engineered wood (particle board or medium-density fiberboard, but not typically plywood) or solid wood. Engineered wood panels may either be used as slabs or may be shaped to resemble frame-and-panel construction. In either case, engineered wood panels are generally painted, veneered, or laminated. Solid wood panels are typically formed of multiple boards of the selected wood species, jointed together using glue and may either be painted or finished. Solid wood construction offers the possibility of refinishing in case of damage or wear.

• Decorative panels. Cabinet doors panels are used decoratively on cabinet sides, where exposed, for a more finished appearance.

• Glass door construction options.Doors may have glass windows constructed of muntins and mullions holding glass panels (as in exterior windows). Other designs either mimic the divided-light look of muntins and mullions with overlays, or may dispense with them altogether. Cabinets using glass doors sometimes use glass shelves and interior lighting from the top of a cabinet. A glass shelf allows light to reach throughout a cabinet. For a special display effect, the interior rear of a cabinet may be covered with a mirrors to further distribute light.

Drawers and Trays

A functional design objective for cabinet interiors involves maximization of useful space and utility in the context of the kitchen workflow. Drawers and trays in lower cabinets permit access from above and avoid uncomfortable or painful crouching.

In face-frame construction, a drawer or tray must clear the face-frame stile and is 2" narrower than the available cabinet interior space. The loss of 2" is particularly noticeable and significant for kitchens including multiple narrow (15" or less) cabinets.

In frameless construction, drawer boxes may be sized nearly to the interior opening of the cabinet providing better use of the available space.

However, the same is not true for trays. Even in the case of frameless construction doors and their hinges when open block a portion of the interior cabinet width. Since trays are mounted behind the door, trays are typically significantly narrower than drawers. Special hinges are available that can permit trays of similar width as drawers but they have not come into wide use.

Shelves provide in all cases more storage space than drawers or trays, but are less accessible.

Wall oven cabinets

Stock wall-oven cabinets may be adapted to built-in ovens, coffee-makers, or other appliances by removing portions of the cabinet and adding trim panels to achieve a flush installation.

Frameless cabinets provide for wall oven front panel widths equal to the cabinet width (see above). In such an installation the oven front panel occupies a similar profile as a cabinet door. Accordingly, frameless installations for wall-oven make most efficient use of the available wall space in a kitchen.

This effect is difficult to achieve in typical face-frame cabinet installations, as it requires modification to the face-frame (essentially eliminating the face-frame at the oven cut-out).

Cabinet Finishes

Cabinets may be finished with opaque paint or transparent finishes such as lacquer or varnish. Decorative finishes include distressing, glazing, and toning. The choice of finish can affect the cabinet's color, sheen (from satin to gloss), and feel.

• High pressure laminates or (HPL) are made from resin and paper components under high pressure; in contrast, ordinary wood does not sustain such pressures, and can be crushed to less than half its natural thickness in a hand operated arbor press. The high pressure squeezes the HPL to such a solid density that it becomes highly resistant to damage simply because any utensil or tool striking the HPL will not have a force greater than the force used to form the HPL itself. In effect, the HPL has been dented in advance. HPL can be decorated in any pattern and is applied using contact cement and pressed in place using a "J-roller." It is cut slightly larger than the panel on which it is to be installed and trimmed using a router-like laminate trimmer along the edge. It may also be filed to obtain the final edge. While HPL became prevalent in the twentieth century, since the 1970s the trend has been away from HPL in favor of wood.

• Melamine is a coating for furniture board panels in carcases. Its unique white-in-color chemical formulation helps prevent damage by chemicals and gives it impact resistance comparable to HPL. Melamine coated boards are widely available in home centers for purposes such as shelving.

• Thermofoil is a plastic coating laminate applied to furniture-board. It is typically applied to boards which have been milled, shaped, or routed into a complex profile. While thermofoil can have a unique glossy sheen and have strength and impact resistance almost as much as HPL, it can't be repaired if damaged.

• Paint can be used over cabinets where desired. Paint is considered traditional. Many consider brush strokes in the finish to be attractive.

Cabinet Hardware

Hardware is the term used for metal fittings incorporated into a cabinet extraneous of the wood or engineered wood substitute and the countertop. The most basic hardware consists of hinges and drawer/door pulls, although only hinges are an absolute necessity for a cabinet since pulls can be fashioned of wood or plastic, and drawer slides were traditionally fashioned of wood. In a modern kitchen it is highly unusual to use wood for a drawer slides owing to the much superior quality of metal drawer slides/sides.

Drawer and tray slides

Slides are manufactured hardware assemblies that enable cabinet components such as drawers to be extended from the carcase in smooth linear motions with minimum effort. The primary design parameters of any slide are its height, depth, extension, and weight rating. Separately, durability and serviceability are important as are the smoothness of operation and the availability of features such as soft-close buffering. Slides are used not only for drawers but also for trays and pull-out cabinets of various designs.

Drawer "extension" is the proportion of a drawer that is exposed when fully opened. Traditional drawers built with wood-on-wood runners cannot be opened beyond about three-quarters extension. Modern manufactured runners enable full-extension drawers, where specified.

The typical weight rating for a drawer or tray is 75 to 100 lbs, sufficient for ordinary use.

Slides may be mounted on the side or the bottom of the drawer. On the drawer bottom, they are completely out-of-sight, contributing to a significant gain in popularity in recent years. In the bottom-mounted configuration, drawer slides can accommodate the widest possible drawers in a frameless cabinet opening. However, the depth of the drawer must necessarily be slightly curtailed to accommodate the undermounted hardware. (Conversely, the width of the drawer is slightly reduced for sidemount installations.)

Drawers have become increasingly popular for the bottom cavities of base cabinets, and even more so in frameless carcases. Using drawers, items can be much more conveniently accessed from above such that the need to bend or squat is lessened.

Drawers or trays may be thought of as devices that improve ergonomic accessibility to the contents of a cabinet, at the cost of reducing the usable space somewhat. This reduction in space is most noticeable for pull-out trays or for face-frame cabinet drawers (semi-custom or stock). For a given cavity opening, trays are normally somewhat more narrow than an equivalent drawer. The narrower width provides for clearance for the cabinet door and a symmetric installation. To compare with a shelf, the width of a tray may be 5 inches narrower than the interior of the cabinet. Such reductions in width owing to the use of trays or drawers in face-frame cabinets are more significant for narrower cabinets (21" or narrower) since they amount to a larger proportion of the overall cabinet width.

By comparison, in frameless "full-access" cabinetry, drawers occupy nearly the full available width such that available space is compromised to an absolute minimum extent. This accounts in part for the increasing popularity of drawers.

Specialty hardware

There is a large variety of specialty hardware for kitchen cabinets.

Special hardware for corner and other blind cabinets makes their contents more easily accessible. They may be in the form of lazy susans with or without a wedge cut out or of tray slides which enable the hidden corner space to be occupied with trays that slide both laterally and forwards/backwards.

Sponge drawers use special hinges that fit between the cabinet front and the sink.

Buying cabinets

Cabinets may be "stock," "semi-custom," or "custom". The term "semi-custom" is partially outdated since both stock and semi-custom cabinets are produced in incremental widths, typically 3 inches. The distinction between "semi-custom" and "stock" that remains significant, however, is that stock cabinets are manufactured in advance and available on short order (1 week) from a warehouse or home center, whereas semi-custom cabinets are produced to order (approximately 4 weeks).

In general, there are three categories of cabinets from any manufacturer: base, wall, and tall. Cabinet vendors use the terms base, upper and tall or pantry. Base cabinets are typically 24" deep and 34½" high; a countertop surface is normally at 36" above the floor. Wall or upper cabinets are typically 12" deep and most frequently are used in heights of either 30" (e.g., top-mounted to a soffit), 36" (top 6" from the ceiling of an 8' room, which may be covered by built-up crown mouldng), or 42" (top at the ceiling of an 8' high room). The conventional distance from the countertop to the underside of a wall cabinet is 18" for a full 96" (i.e., 8') ceiling. This 18" space is reduced by installation of a floor (i.e. reductions in the 8' ceiling height) and also by the use of undercabinet lighting and "light rails" that conceal it. Cabinets can be mounted with an open top for display of ornaments. For higher ceilings, such as 9', another level of cabinets can be used if desired. Among the three categories are multiple catalog offerings depending on the manufacturer.

The most important convention to understand in specifying or procuring cabinets lies in how the three dimensions of width, depth and height are specified in a manner understood by all parties. It is a generally accepted convention that cabinet sizes are specified in the order of Width first, then Height and then Depth. ( W x H x D ). A standard size for an upper cabinet with a single door is 36 inches tall x 18 inches wide x 12 inches deep. This is specified as an 18x36x12, meaning 18W x 36H x 12D. Upper cabinets are also usually described only by width and height, the depth being standardized at 12 inches. The cabinet manufacturer's part number may be even more brief, W1836. shorthand for Wall mount( specifies 12" deep") 18 inches wide by 36 inches tall. If you specify a 36x18 upper cabinet (W3618) on the order form when you expect to receive something 18 inches wide and 36 inches tall, you will likely receive an 18 inch tall cabinet that is 36 inches wide as is commonly used to provide storage over the top of a refrigerator. However manufacturers part numbers do not necessarily follow conventions. ( Marketing never talks to the design folks! ) Industry professional understand this implicitly but someone that orders cabinets once every 15 years cannot be expected to have this order of specification memorized. To be safe, always ask about this convention when you begin to discuss cabinet dimensions and part numbers.

Custom cabinets are designed and built to the dimensions required by the kitchen plan; delivery schedules are longer. Custom cabinetry offers several advantages at higher cost. First, cabinets of arbitrary dimensions can be supplied to most efficiently and attractively fit the available space, and provision can be made for out-of-plumb or out-of-level walls or other surfaces. Second, custom cabinets can combine more than one opening and eliminate unsightly doubled stiles in face-frame installations. Finally, custom cabinets can provide aesthetic choices such as unusual woods or finishes, the use of inset cabinet doors, matching existing or period furniture styles, and other features as implied by the term "custom."

Some manufacturers offer the possibility of mixing custom and stock cabinetry of identical finishes to accommodate custom dimensions at a lower cost than an all-custom cabinet run.

Cabinets are designed and sold through multiple channels including specialty retailers, kitchen remodelers, home centers, on-line retailers, and ready-to-assemble furniture manufacturer-retailers. Kitchen cabinets are frequently sold as a package deal involving measurement, specification, and installation services.

The vast majority of cabinets are delivered assembled, packed one to a carton. Problems are not unusual. Carcases must be inspected carefully before installation. Some defects in the carcase are difficult or impossible to repair properly once installed. Ready-to-assemble furniture cabinets are lower-in-cost and are delivered to the customer in a flat box. Cabinet shops throughout the U.S. fabricate custom cabinets for kitchen or other applications.

In specifying new cabinets for an existing kitchen, precise measurement of existing conditions is essential. With imprecise measurements, empty space may be left unfilled where needed, cabinets may not fit, or there may be interference between cabinet doors or drawers and nearby items.

A bathroom cabinet is a cabinet in a bathroom. It is often placed above a sink or toilet and is made to hold hygiene products and toiletries.

 

A home entertainment center (or stereo console) is a piece of furniture seen in many homes in North America, which houses major electronic items, such as a television set, a VCR and/or DVD player, stereo components (such as an AM/FM tuner, multi-disc compact disc changer, record player, one or more cassette players and graphic equalizer), and cable or satellite television receivers. A stereo console would contain components built into a cabinet, as was popular in the 1960s. These would be replaced by high-fidelity component stereos by the 1970s which offered much higher performance without being attached to furniture, or being tied to one brand of equipment.

Entertainment centers may be attached to high-fidelity stereo or quadraphonic speakers. By the 2000s, the best sound systems were designed for home theater and movie sound. It typically includes more than just the left and right stereo channels. Television and VHS typically encodes extra channels onto the two main channels, while digital modes encode this information into the digital DVD source data, with center, two rear, and a subwoofer speakers. The difficulty is usually in wiring and placing the rear speakers and the necessity of buying a receiver which can decode the sound. As the size of video monitors has increased, rather than having a 20 inch TV surrounded by massive stereo equipment, it is common to have a very large flat or projection screen with a small and integrated DVD player / receiver and satellite or digital cable receiver underneath, with small remote speakers and a moderate sized subwoofer.

The audio and video components have special connectors which are often hooked to a dedicated box whose connections and functions are known to only one person in the household. The items are then plugged into an electrical outlet strip, which should have a surge protector. Each component typically has its own remote control, though expensive universal remote controls are available that can learn or are programmed with most common equipment.

The term home entertainment center may also refer to the complete package – the electronic components and the unit in which they are housed. The unit is often either an armoire or a self-contained unit (usually of wood and glass); they often contain dedicated areas (either drawers or other spaces) for storage of records, videotapes, compact discs and/or DVD discs.

In many homes, an entertainment center is often placed in the living room, family room or recreation room. Perhaps the first example of a built-in entertainment center was created by Frank Lloyd Wright at his 1917 Hollyhock House in Los Angeles, California. Custom cabinetry and speakers may be built into or added to an existing house at some expense over free-standing furniture, and video and / or audio signals wired or wirelessly sent to other rooms in the home by dedicated cables, or over a local area network.

The term home entertainment center was widely used in the 1980s. It is being replaced by home theater system for large rooms. While high fidelity previously required large turntables, tape decks and speakers, the changing technology of music formats have made small bookshelf systems, Bose desktop radios, and iPod based speaker systems which can also produce music of high quality and serve as music entertainment systems, making large component systems again a niche high end market.

 

Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. Its county seat is Santa Ana. According to the 2000 Census, its population was 2,846,289, making it the second most populous county in the state of California, and the fifth most populous in the United States. The state of California estimates its population as of 2007 to be 3,098,121 people, dropping its rank to third, behind San Diego County. Thirty-four incorporated cities are located in Orange County; the newest is Aliso Viejo.

Unlike many other large centers of population in the United States, Orange County uses its county name as its source of identification whereas other places in the country are identified by the large city that is closest to them. This is because there is no defined center to Orange County like there is in other areas which have one distinct large city. Five Orange County cities have populations exceeding 170,000 while no cities in the county have populations surpassing 360,000. Seven of these cities are among the 200 largest cities in the United States.

Orange County is also famous as a tourist destination, as the county is home to such attractions as Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, as well as sandy beaches for swimming and surfing, yacht harbors for sailing and pleasure boating, and extensive area devoted to parks and open space for golf, tennis, hiking, kayaking, cycling, skateboarding, and other outdoor recreation. It is at the center of Southern California's Tech Coast, with Irvine being the primary business hub.

The average price of a home in Orange County is $541,000. Orange County is the home of a vast number of major industries and service organizations. As an integral part of the second largest market in America, this highly diversified region has become a Mecca for talented individuals in virtually every field imaginable. Indeed the colorful pageant of human history continues to unfold here; for perhaps in no other place on earth is there an environment more conducive to innovative thinking, creativity and growth than this exciting, sun bathed valley stretching between the mountains and the sea in Orange County.

Orange County was Created March 11 1889, from part of Los Angeles County, and, according to tradition, so named because of the flourishing orange culture. Orange, however, was and is a commonplace name in the United States, used originally in honor of the Prince of Orange, son-in-law of King George II of England.

 

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,455 km² (948 sq mi), making it the smallest county in Southern California. Surface water accounts for 411 km² (159 sq mi) of the area, 16.73% of the total; 2,044 km² (789 sq mi) of it is land. The average annual temperature is about 68F.

Orange County is bordered on the southwest by the Pacific Ocean, on the north by Los Angeles County, on the northeast by San Bernardino County and Riverside County, and on the southeast by San Diego County.

The northwestern part of the county lies on the coastal plain of the Los Angeles Basin, while the southeastern end rises into the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. Most of Orange County's population reside in one of two shallow coastal valleys that lie in the basin, the Santa Ana Valley and the Saddleback Valley. The Santa Ana Mountains lie within the eastern boundaries of the county and of the Cleveland National Forest. The high point is Santiago Peak (5,689 feet (1,734 m), about 20 mi (32 km) east of Santa Ana. Santiago Peak and nearby Modjeska Peak, just 200 feet (60 m) shorter, form a ridge known as Saddleback, visible from almost everywhere in the county. The Peralta Hills extend westward from the Santa Ana Mountains through the communities of Anaheim Hills, Orange, and ending in Olive. The Loma Ridge is another prominent feature, running parallel to the Santa Ana Mountains through the central part of the county, separated from the taller mountains to the east by Santiago Canyon.

The Santa Ana River is the county's principal watercourse, flowing through the middle of the county from northeast to southwest. Its major tributary to the south and east is Santiago Creek. Other watercourses within the county include Aliso Creek, San Juan Creek, and Horsethief Creek. In the North, the San Gabriel River also briefly crosses into Orange County and exits into the Pacific on the Los Angeles-Orange County line between the cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach. Laguna Beach is home to the county's only natural lakes, Laguna Lakes, which are formed by water rising up against an underground fault.

Residents sometimes figuratively divide the county into "North Orange County" and "South County" (meaning Northwest and Southeast—following the county's natural diagonal orientation along the local coastline). This is more of a cultural and demographic distinction perpetuated by the popular television shows "The OC" and "Laguna Beach," between the older areas closer to Los Angeles, and the more affluent and recently developed areas to the South and East. A transition between older and newer development may be considered to exist roughly parallel to State Route 55 (aka the Costa Mesa Freeway). This transition is accentuated by large flanking tracts of sparsely developed area occupied until recent years by agriculture and military airfields.

While there is a natural topographical Northeast-to-Southwest transition from inland elevations to the lower coastal band, there is no formal geographical division between North and South County. Perpendicular to that gradient, the Santa Ana River roughly divides the county between northwestern and southeastern sectors (about 40% to 60% respectively, by area), but does not represent any apparent economic, political or cultural differences, nor does it significantly affect distribution of travel, housing, commerce, industry or agriculture from one side to the other.

Shopping

Orange County contains several notable shopping malls. Among these are the world-renowned South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Other significant malls include the Brea Mall, The Shops at Mission Viejo, The Block at Orange, and the Irvine Spectrum Center. There is also Downtown Disney adjacent to Disneyland.

Tourism

Tourism remains a vital aspect of Orange County's economy. Anaheim is the main tourist hub, with its Disneyland Resort being the second most visited theme park in the country. The Anaheim Convention Center receives many major conventions throughout the year. Resorts within the Beach Cities receive visitors throughout the year due to their close proximity to the beach, biking paths, mountain hiking trails, golf courses, shopping and dining.

Tallest buildings in Orange County

City	Structure	Height (feet)	Stories	Built
Santa Ana	One Broadway Plaza	497	37	Proposed
Costa Mesa	Center Tower	285	21	1985
Costa Mesa	Plaza Tower	282	21	1992
Santa Ana	Macarthur Skyline Tower 1	278	25	2009
Santa Ana	Macarthur Skyline Tower 2	278	25	2009
Orange	City Tower	269	21	1988
Irvine	Jamboree Center - 5 Park Plaza	263	19	1990
Irvine	Jamboree Center - 3 Park Plaza	263	19	1990
Irvine	Edison International Tower	263	19	N/A
Irvine	Opus Center Irvine II	246	14	2002
Irvine	Wells Fargo Center	230	18	1990
Orange	Doubletree Hotel Anaheim	N/A	20	1986
Newport Beach	The Island Hotel (Formerly the Four Seasons)	N/A	20	1986
Orange	City Plaza	N/A	18	N/A
Newport Beach	610 Tower	N/A	18	N/A
Costa Mesa	Park Tower	240	17	1979
Irvine	Waterfield Tower (formerly Tower 17)	220	17	1987
Newport Beach	660 Tower	N/A	17	N/A
Newport Beach	620 Tower	N/A	17	1970
Irvine	Irvine Marriott (Koll Center Irvine)	N/A	17	N/A
Anaheim	Anaheim Marriot - Palms Tower	N/A	19	N/A
Costa Mesa	Westin South Coast Plaza	N/A	17	N/A
Orange	1100 Executive Tower	210	16	N/A
Santa Ana	Xerox Centre	N/A	16	1988
Newport Beach	Marriott Newport Beach Hotel	N/A	16	N/A
Irvine	2600 Michelson	N/A	16	N/A
Garden Grove	Hyatt Regency Orange County	N/A	16	1987
Anaheim	Anaheim Marriott - Oasis Tower	N/A	16	N/A
Costa Mesa	DiTech.com Tower (Two Town Center)	213	15	N/A
Costa Mesa	Comerica Bank Tower (Two Town Center)	213	15	N/A
Buena Park	Supreme Scream (amusement ride)	312	N/A	N/A
Anaheim	The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (amusement ride)	183	---	2004
Anaheim	Anaheim Convention Center

Arts and Culture

Points of Interest

The area's warm Mediterranean climate and 42 miles (68 km) of year-round beaches attract millions of tourists annually. Huntington Beach is a hot spot for sunbathing and surfing; nicknamed "Surf City, U.S.A.", it is home to many surfing competitions. "The Wedge," at the tip of The Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, is one of the most famous body surfing spots in the world. Other tourist destinations include the theme parks Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim and Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. Water parks in Orange County include Wild Rivers in Irvine and Soak City in Buena Park. The Anaheim Convention Center is the largest such facility on the West Coast. The old town area in the City of Orange (the traffic circle at the middle of Chapman Ave. at Glassell) still maintains its 1950s image, and appeared in the That Thing You Do! movie. Little Saigon is another notable tourist destination, being home to the largest concentration of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam. There are also sizable Taiwanese, Chinese, and Korean communities, particularly in western Orange County. This is evident in several Asian-influenced shopping centers in Asian American hubs like the city of Irvine.

Other notable structures include the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa Ana, the largest building in the county; the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, the largest house of worship in California; the historic Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach; the Huntington Beach Pier; and the restored Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Some of the most exclusive (and expensive) neighborhoods in the U.S. are located here, many along the Orange County Coast, and some in north Orange County. Historical points of interest include Mission San Juan Capistrano (destination of migrating swallows), and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda. The Nixon Home is a National Historic Landmark, as is the home of a very different character, Madam Helena Modjeska, in Modjeska Canyon on Santiago Creek.

Since the premiere in fall 2003 of the hit Fox series The O.C., and the 2007 Bravo series "The Real Housewives of Orange County" tourism has increased with travelers from across the globe hoping to see the sights seen in the show. However, the former was rarely filmed anywhere in Orange County.

Religion

Orange County is also the base for several significant religious organizations:

• Newsong Church
• Walk of Faith Church
• Reformation Lutheran Church
• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange headed by Bishop Tod Brown.
• Greek Orthodox Mission of South Orange County in San Juan Capistrano
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Anaheim
• Association of Islamic Charitable Project
• The Islamic Center of Irvine
• Chuck Smith, father of the Jesus People movement, is headquartered at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa.
• Reverend Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral is in Garden Grove.
• Trinity Broadcasting Network began as Channel 40 in Tustin, now in Costa Mesa.
• The Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren and his Saddleback Church (the largest church in California) are in Lake Forest.
• The Vineyard Christian Fellowship movement began in Orange County.
• Sarang Community Church, one of the largest Korean American megachurches in Orange County is based in Anaheim.
• Grace Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach is leading a Lutheran renewal movement.
• Children of God, AKA "The Family" ,was founded in 1968 in Huntington Beach by David Berg.
• The Islamic Center of Anaheim
• The Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo
• The Islamic Educational School (TIES)
• St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine
• The Islamic Educational Center of Orange County is based in Costa Mesa.
• The mosque at the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove serves one of the largest Muslim communities in the nation.
• The Baha'i Center of San Clemente was built by members of the Bahá'í Faith.
• Pao Fa Temple in Irvine is one of the largest Buddhist monasteries and temples in the United States.
• The Conservative Lutheran Association is located at Trinity Lutheran Church in Anaheim, headed by Pastor Jim Elmore.
• The Goddess Temple of Orange County is one of the few Goddess organizations in the U.S. holding regular weekly services.
• The Newport Beach California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serves Mormons in Orange County and is one of only four LDS temples in Southern California.

It should be noted that among the Christian population, the majority of the population with German ancestry follows the various Protestant denominations while the ethnic Irish, Hispanic, Vietnamese and other populations follow Roman Catholicism. There are about 1.04 million Catholics in Orange County. Also, there are about 35 synagogues to serve the sizeable Jewish community in the county. There are more than 15 mosques to serve the large Muslim community.

Literature

A number of novels by best-selling fiction and horror author Dean Koontz, a resident of Newport Beach, are set in the area.

Several of the stories in Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon's collection, A Model World, are set in Orange County. Chabon studied creative writing at UC Irvine.

Orange County is the place in which Kim Stanley Robinson's Three Californias Trilogy is set. These books depict three different futures of Orange County (survivors of a nuclear war in The Wild Shore, a developer's dream gone mad in The Gold Coast, and an ecotopian utopia in Pacific Edge). Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly was also set in Orange County.

From his first novel, "Laguna Heat," to more recent books such as "California Girl," mystery-writer T. Jefferson Parker has set many of his novels in Orange County.

The modern fantasy novel "All the Bells on Earth" by James P. Blaylock is set in Orange.

The classic novel "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. describes journeys along the California coast in the early 1800s and the trading of goods for cow hides with the local residents. The south Orange County city of Dana Point takes its name from the author, as the cliffs around the harbor were a favorite location of his.

Sports

Huntington Beach annually plays host to the U.S. Open of Surfing, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball and Vans World Championship of Skateboarding. It was also the shooting location for Pro Beach Hockey.USA Water Polo, Inc. has moved its headquarter offices to Huntington Beach. Orange County's active outdoor culture is home to many surfers, skateboarders, mountain bikers, cyclists, climbers, hikers, kayaking, sailing and sand volleyball.

Sports Teams

The Major League Baseball team in Orange County is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who won the World Series in 2002. In 2005, new owner Arte Moreno wanted to change the name to "Los Angeles Angels" in order to better tap into the Los Angeles media market, the second largest in the country, which includes Orange County. However, the standing agreement with the city of Anaheim demanded that they have "Anaheim" in the name, so they became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This name change was hotly disputed by the city of Anaheim and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who wanted sole possession of the title "Los Angeles," but the change stood and still stands today, which prompted a lawsuit by the City of Anaheim against Angels owner Arte Moreno, and the city lost. It has been widely unpopular in Orange County, although attendance has increased.

The county's National Hockey League team, the Anaheim Ducks, won the 2007 Stanley Cup beating the Ottawa Senators. They also came close to winning the 2003 Stanley Cup finals after winning three games in a seven-game series against the New Jersey Devils.

The Orange County Flyers are a Golden Baseball League team based in Fullerton, California. The league is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The Flyers were sold on March 21, 2007 to an Orange County investment group, making them the first Golden Baseball League team to ever be sold. Before their sale, the Flyers were called the Fullerton Flyers, but on March 28, 2007 they became the Orange County Flyers; they kept their team colors (blue and orange) and home games are still played at Cal State Fullerton's Goodwin Field.

The Orange County Blue Star is a USL Premier Development League soccer club. They play at Orange Coast College. Among those who have played for OCBS are Jürgen Klinsmann, the former German star and Germany's 2006 World Cup coach, who played under an assumed name.

The Anaheim Arsenal are an NBA D-League expansion team for the 2006–2007 season. They play their home games at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Orange County Gladiators are an American Basketball Association (ABA) expansion team starting in November 2007. They will play their home games at Fieldhouse Gym at JSerra in San Juan Capistrano.

Orange County Roller Girls - an All Female Flat Track Roller Derby League formed in 2006 and actively plays (bouts) at various locations in Orange County. Many of the league's bouts are played against teams from other cities throughout the United States.

Government

Orange County is a chartered county of California; its seat is Santa Ana. Its legislative and executive authority is vested in a five-member Board of Supervisors. Each Supervisor is popularly elected from a regional district, and together the board oversees the activities of the county's agencies and departments and sets policy on development, public improvements, and county services. At the beginning of each year the Supervisors select a Chairman and Vice Chairman, but the administration is headed by a professional municipal manager, the County Executive. The current supervisors are Janet Nguyen, John Moorlach, Bill Campbell, Chris Norby, and Patricia C. Bates.

Seven other public officials are elected at-large: the County Assessor, Auditor-Controller, Clerk-Recorder, District Attorney, Sheriff-Coroner, Treasurer-Tax Collector and Public Administrator. Since 2008, the Orange County Sheriff's Department has been led by Sheriff-Coroner Sandra Hutchens. Her predecessor, Mike Carona, resigned earlier in the year to defend himself against corruption charges.

Politics

Orange County vote
by party in presidential elections

Year	GOP	DEM	Others
2008	50.4% 578,171	47.8% 548,246	1.8% 21,530
2004	59.7% 641,832	39.0% 419,239	1.3% 14,328
2000	55.8% 541,299	40.4% 391,819	3.9% 37,787
1996	51.7% 446,717	37.9% 327,485	10.5% 90,374
1992	43.9% 426,613	31.6% 306,930	24.6% 239,006
1988	67.7% 586,230	31.1% 269,013	1.2% 10,064
1984	74.7% 635,013	24.3% 206,272	1.0% 8,792
1980	67.9% 529,797	22.6% 176,704	9.5% 73,711
1976	62.2% 408,632	35.3% 232,246	2.5% 16,555
1972	68.3% 448,291	26.9% 176,847	4.8% 31,515
1968	63.1% 314,905	29.9% 148,869	7.0% 34,933
1964	55.9% 224,196	44.0% 176,539	0.1% 430
1960	60.8% 174,891	38.9% 112,007	0.2% 701

Orange County has long been known as a Republican stronghold and has consistently sent Republican representatives to the state and federal legislatures. Republican majorities in Orange County helped deliver California's electoral votes to Republican presidential candidates Richard Nixon (1960, 1968 and 1972), Gerald Ford (1976), Ronald Reagan (1980, 1984), and George H. W. Bush (1988). Orange County has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1936 landslide re-election for a second term. Although Democrats have made inroads in the northern end of the county since the mid-1980s, Orange County politics are still dominated by Republicans. Five of the county's six U.S. Representatives, four of its five State Senators and seven of its nine State Assembly members are Republicans, as are all five members of the County Board of Supervisors. Only four Democrats have carried the county in a statewide race in the last 50 years; Jerry Brown in his successful campaign for Governor in 1978, March Fong Eu for Secretary of State and Kenneth Cory for State Controller, both also in 1978 and Kathleen Connell for Controller in 1998.

In Congress, representatives whose districts are completely or partially in the county include Republicans Ed Royce (CA-40), Gary Miller (CA-42), Ken Calvert (CA-44), Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46), and John Campbell (CA-48), and Democrat Loretta Sanchez (CA-47). In the State Senate, Senators whose districts are completely or partially in the county include Republicans Bob Huff (SD-29), Dick Ackerman (SD-33), Tom Harman (SD-35), and Mark Wyland (SD-38), and Democrat Lou Correa (SD-34). In the State Assembly, Assemblymembers whose districts are completely or partially in the county include Republicans Curt Hagman (AD-60), Jim Silva (AD-67), Van Tran (AD-68), Chuck DeVore (AD-70), Todd Spitzer (AD-71), Michael D. Duvall (AD-72), and Mimi Walters (AD-73), and Democrats Tony Mendoza (AD-56) and Jose Solorio (AD-69).

According to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, as of July 21, 2009, Orange County had 1,599,889 registered voters. Of these, 43.6% (698,140) are registered Republicans, and 32.1% (512,853) are registered Democrats. An additional 20.2% (324,669) declined to state a political party.

Orange County has produced such notable Republicans as President Richard Nixon (born in Yorba Linda and lived in San Clemente), U.S. Senator John F. Seymour (previously mayor of Anaheim), and U.S. Senator Thomas Kuchel (of Anaheim). Former Congressman Chris Cox (of Newport Beach), a White House counsel for President Ronald Reagan, is also a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Orange County was also home to former Republican Congressman John G. Schmitz, a presidential candidate in 1972 from the ultra-conservative American Independent Party and the father of Mary Kay Letourneau. In 1996, Curt Pringle (currently mayor of Anaheim) became the first Republican-elected Speaker of the California State Assembly in decades.

While the growth of the county's Hispanic and Asian populations in recent decades has significantly influenced the culture of Orange County, its conservative reputation has remained largely intact. Partisan voter registration patterns of Hispanics, Asians and other ethnic minorities in the county have tended to reflect the surrounding demographics, with resultant Republican majorities in all but the central portion of the county. When Democrat Loretta Sanchez defeated veteran Republican Bob Dornan in the congressional contest of 1996, she was continuing a trend of Democratic representation of that district that had been interrupted by Dornan's 1984 upset of former Congressman Jerry Patterson. Until 1992, Sanchez herself was a Republican, and she is viewed as having moderate or even conservative positions on many issues.

Republicans have responded to the influx of non-white immigrants by making more explicit efforts to court the Hispanic and Asian vote. In 2004, George W. Bush captured 60% of the county's vote, up from 56% in 2000, despite a higher Democratic popular vote compared with the 2000 election. Although Barbara Boxer won statewide, and fared better in Orange County than she did in 1998, Republican Bill Jones defeated her in the county, 51% to 43%. While the 39% that John Kerry received is higher than the percentage Bill Clinton won in both 1992 and 1996, the percentage of the vote George W. Bush received in 2004 (59.7% of the vote) is the highest any presidential candidate has received since 1988, showing a still-dominant GOP presence in the county. In 2006, Senator Dianne Feinstein won 45% of the vote in the county, the highest margin of a Democrat in a Senate race in over four decades, but Orange was nevertheless the only Coastal California county to vote for her Republican opponent Dick Mountjoy. In terms of voter registration, the Democratic Party has a plurality or majority of registrations only in the cities of Santa Ana, Stanton, and Buena Park.

The county is featured prominently in the book Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right by Lisa McGirr. She argues that the county's conservative political orientation in the 20th century owed much to its settlement by Midwestern transplants, who reacted strongly to communist sympathies, the civil rights movement, and the turmoil of the 1960s in nearby Los Angeles — across the "Orange Curtain."

In the 1970s and 1980s, Orange County was one of California's leading Republican voting blocs and a sub-culture of residents to hold "Middle American" values that emphasized a capitalist religious morality in contrast to West coast liberalism that well existed there.

Orange County has a high portion of Republican voters from culturally conservative Asian-American, Middle Eastern and Latino immigrants. Some of these came as refugees from wars and dictatorships, and are strongly loyal to Republican anti-communist policies. The large Vietnamese-American communities in Garden Grove and Westminster are predominantly Republican; Vietnamese Americans registered Republicans outnumber those registered as Democrats by a rate of 55% to 22%. Republican Assemblyman Van Tran was elected to become the first Vietnamese-American to serve in a state legislature and joined with Texan Hubert Vo as the highest-ranking elected Vietnamese-American in the United States prior to the 2008 election of Joseph Cao in Louisiana's Second Congressional District. In the 2007 special election for the vacant county supervisor seat following Democrat Lou Correa's election to the state senate, two Vietnamese-American Republican candidates topped the list of 10 candidates, separated from each other by only seven votes, making the Board of Supervisors entirely Republican.

Streamlining government

The geographical region of Orange County was original county land with some incorporated areas. Today, nearly all property is incorporated into the various cities. A growing consensus believes the remaining county land and most (if not all) county government services could be transferred to the cities or state, with some functions privatized. The remaining county functions would require minimal staffing; virtually eliminating the county government in its current form. This movement is also known as the Ransom Realignment.

Education

Orange County is the home of many colleges and universities, including:

Colleges Two-year (community colleges) Coastline Community College Cypress College Fullerton College Golden West College Irvine Valley College Orange Coast College Saddleback College Santa Ana College Santiago Canyon College Four-year Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Laguna College of Art and Design Whittier College (including Whittier Law School)

Universities Private, Christian Concordia University Hope International University Trinity Law School Vanguard University Private, secular Anaheim University Chapman University Soka University of America Public California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) University of California, Irvine (UCI)

 

Media

Television stations KOCE-TV and KDOC-TV are located in Orange County. The county is primarily served by The Orange County Register newspaper. OC Weekly is the alternative weekly publication and Excélsior is Orange County's Spanish-language newspaper. A few communities are served by the Los Angeles Times' publication of the Daily Pilot, the Huntington Beach Independent and the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot. Orange County is served by radio stations from the Los Angeles area. There are only a few radio stations that are actually located in Orange County, they are KSBR 88.5 FM. KSBR airs a jazz music format branded as "Jazz-FM" along with news programming, KWIZ 96.7 FM is a commercial radio station located in Santa Ana, broadcasting to the Los Angeles-Orange County Area. KWIZ airs a regional Mexican music format branded as "La Rockola 96.7" and there is KWVE-FM 107.9 which is owned by the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. KWVE-FM is also the primary Emergency Alert System station for the county. California State University Fullerton that has an excellent teaching and visual arts program. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim also own and operate a sports-only radio station from Orange, KLAA. Perhaps KVEA-TV of nearby Corona in the Orange county line can be considered the closest major television station, the first Telemundo affiliate in the mainland U.S. began broadcasting in 1985, but the market title reads "Los Angeles".

Notable Natives and Residents

Due to Orange County's proximity to Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the United States, many film and media celebrities have moved or bought second homes in the county. Actor John Wayne, who lived in Newport Beach, is the namesake for Orange County's John Wayne Airport. Orange County has also produced many homegrown celebrities, including golfer Tiger Woods, musician Andrew McMahon, basketball players Dennis Rodman and Kobe Bryant, a number of professional ballplayers, including retired slugger Mark McGwire, actor Kevin Costner, comedian/actors Steve Martin and Will Ferrell, actresses Michelle Pfeiffer and Diane Keaton, and singers Chester Bennington, Bonnie Raitt, Gwen Stefani, Jeff Buckley, Marc Cherry, Drake Bell and Major League Ballhawk John Witt. Ms. America Susan Jeske is also a resident. Avenged Sevenfold also called Orange County home.

The county's most famous resident was perhaps Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, who was born in Yorba Linda and lived in San Clemente for several years following his resignation. His presidential library is in Yorba Linda.